Balta1701

QUOTE(beck72 @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 12:09 PM) Rollins would fall into the KW mode of "buying low", with his down yr. If his defense was solid and above avg, [he does have low errors] his speed and offense [consistent avg, OBP, as well as XBH] would bring a nice lift to the sox that Uribe's bat doesn't. Rollins could also be a #2 hitter, moving Iguchi down. Pods could also stick around while Sweeney or Fields start 2007 in AAA. Though if the Sox think one of those could start the yr in LF, Pods could be dealt. Depends on how ready the sox think Ryan or Josh are for the bigs. Though trading for Rollins might take dealing Fields--which could happen if the sox sign Crede to a 3, 4 yr deal which I would do first thing in the offseason. Looking at the numbers, I'm not sure Rollins makes a decent leadoff hitter at all, his OBP is even lower than Podsednik's in almost every year. A #2 hitter? Maybe, but his numbers still seem on the low end even for that. It would add some extra speed, but as an upgrade over Uribe it's not a huge one IMO. The real key problem to my eyes is that he signed a 5 year, $40 million deal last year, which is backloaded somewhat, so I really don't think he'd be worth the money he's paid.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 12:03 PM) You're right. Not all of the insurgents in Iraq are Shia who are being supplied with manpower, weaopns, and money from Iran and Syria. Quite a few of them are Sunni Al Qaeda. And not all of the terrorists are foreigners. But quite a bit of the money and weapons that they're getting are from abroad. And, yes, quite a few of the insurgents in Iraq are VERY loyal to Iran, which was the entire basis for Saddam's invasion back in the '80s. I didn't suggest that ALL of the insurgents in Iraq are foreign fighters, but feel free to continue misrepresenting my posts and using those false statements as evidence that I understand "little" about the situation. Ok, so I shouldn't have used the word all, or even most. But I think the evidence is strong that the foreign fighters have played almost a miniscule role in the insurgency. The U.S. efforts at closing the border have done nothing to stop the insurgency, despite the fact that the U.S. has done a decent job securing most of those borders (it's actually fairly easy to secure some of these areas, since most people trying to cross them wind up dead anyway). Most estimates of foreigners present in the Sunni part of the insurgency have been in the hundreds, while estimates of how many Iraqi Sunnis were part of the insurgency have been in the tens of thousands. Including estimates by the U.S. military. And furthermore, there is as far as I know very little evidence that their arms are actually coming from abroad, or that they'd even need to bring them in from abroad, given how many of Saddam's munitions were around at the time of the U.S. invasion and disappeared afterwards. The one thing you do have partially right is that while the insurgency doesn't need a lot of funding, the Sunni part of it has tapped into some of the same pipelines as Al Qaeda. The Shi'ite part of it is just an arm of the government, which is where many of its supplies have come from. Kidnapping and corruption have also dumped huge amounts of cash into both sides.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 12:03 PM) And apparently the Lebanese government was on the verge of kicking Hezbollah's ass into submission, completely removing Syria and Iran's influence, and becoming a utopian-like decmocracy before those stupid Israelis started this war. They were a lot closer a month ago than they are now.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 11:46 AM) What is the Yankees' current payroll? And how much money do they have coming off of the books after this year? $198,662,180 now, I think including Abreu. Sheffield definately ends this season, has an option that won't be picked up (12 million). I believe they have an option on Rivera as well, but he ain't movin'. Posada has an option for next year also, I think they'll hold onto him, but he's paid more than he's worth for the numbers he puts up (12 million). Octavio Dotel's deal ends this year. Bernie Williams is on a 1 year deal I believe. There's probably a few guys in their bullpen who are on one year deals, or some of their backups, but nothing really big beyond Sheffield.

QUOTE(My Dixie Normus @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 11:36 AM) Why do I get the feeling that Zito and/or Oswalt are going to be Yankees next year? Zito is set up perfectly to wind up on one of the NY teams, with Boras as his agent and still decent but not spectacular numbers. But there will, IMO, be a lot of teams shooting for him. I wouldn't be surprised if the Cardinals, the Rangers, and maybe the BoSox or Blue Jays threw their hats at him as well.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 11:26 AM) The Angels are definitely waiting to grab Aramis if he becomes a FA. Excellent, another player to stick in front of their kids that they won't trade!

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 11:26 AM) Now all we need is a Sox win and losses by Boston and NY. I wouldn't mind a win by Tampa Bay as well.

Katherine Harris breaks House rules by receiving a subpoena and not informing Congress. Normally this would be referred to the Ethics committee as an ethics violation, but that committee is still blocked after the last attempt by the majority to dramatically weaken the committee.

QUOTE(iguchi=dank @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 11:20 AM) MOURNEU AGAIN with an error! 3 now... i don't know if they counted the first one as a hit or error, it was a slow dribbler that i don't know if they woulda got the runner anyway There are only 2 errors on the scoreboard. One credited to Morneau, one Credited to Punto.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 11:11 AM) You mean innocent until proven guilty, right? Keep up with that kinda talk and we have a nice facility down in Cuba for folks like you!

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 10:47 AM) Baghdad gets electricity 8 hours out of the day. There are 24 hours in the Iraqi day. Actually, if you average over the whole year, it's down to less than 6 hours per day, with several months coming in around 4. QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 10:57 AM) Terrorist proxies of Iran and Syria destroy the infrastructure of Iraq every day. They were not doing so in Lebanon until Hezbollah baited Israel into a war. Again, it's a ridiculous comparison. If you really think that Iran and Syria would allow a West-friendly democracy in Lebanon, you're living in La-La Land. In just the past year and a half, Damascus ordered the assasination of Hariri and Tehran provoked the Israelis into a war via Hezbollah. Both of these incidents were staged to send the nation into chaos and prevent democracy. Suggesting that the insurgents in Iraq are all either foreign fighters or are even on the side of Syria and Iran really shows how little you actually understand that entire situation, given that the insurgency which did so much damage, sparked the civil war, and had the Administration talking about foreign fighters was a Sunni-based insurgency, and Iran is the dominant Shi'a country and would like nothing better than for the current government in Iraq to become entrenched. Oh, and I assume you meant Iraq, not Iran, so I fixed that.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 10:29 AM) Javy Lopez? Didn't they already trade David Riske for him? Seriously, a.) you think they'd really go for him and b.) you think he could clear waivers? I think he'd get through waivers, but I'm just not sure Boston's willing to panic and give up anything and take on that contract all at once.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:47 AM) So spin that the other way around... What have 60 years of attacking Israel gotten the rest of the middle east? How many Muslims have died because of the repeated invasions and attacks on Israel? How many Hamas/Hebollah etc young men have strapped bombs to themselves and killed innocent Israelis, and what has it gotten them? Nothing. As a matter of a fact, at times it has made things much worse for the average Palestinian or other people who were occupied at times by Israel. None of this has stopped Israel from exsisting, which is their clearly stated and repeated goal, so if 18 years of history are clear enough to learn from, 60 years must be WAY more than enough right? Why don't the groups who insist on perpetually attacking Israel learn their lessons and leave them alone? You're 100% right, and if somehow that happened, this would all be over, and that'd be quite nice. But the reality is, that's just not going to happen as long as the area surrounding Israel is dotted with these failed states that just dump out terrorists. The sad truth is that this is just a cycle. Israel levels an area in response to terrorism, the leveled area produces more terrorists out of those who lost everything, and those terrorists wind up causing the next Israeli incursion. If we could expect everyone to behave logically, things would be a lot easier, but we just can't, and expecting people to do so only gets you into worse traps. That's where the whole "Yes, we're bombing you, but you should support us instead of Hezbollah because that's the only way the bombing will stop" idea comes from. It sounds wonderful in a message board, but to the person with the planes flying over his head and his house in ruins from an Israeli bomb, he's just not going to blame Hezbollah.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:18 AM) Wow, the Royals' starter has a lower ERA than our starter. How often does that happen? Are we confined to looking at this season?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 08:57 AM) Who is is brother? Dmitri? Correct. The one with the Tigers. The one facing, what was it, domestic abuse charges?

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:16 AM) The new Iraq government can't provide social services? That's another load of crap. They've been doing so for over a year. Also consider that the vast majority of the violence in Iraq is in Baghdad (and mostly becuase Iran and Syria are sending terrorists there), while the rest of the nation is relatively peaceful. And how's that "internal peace" thing going in Hezbollah-run Lebanon? LOL. The counterpoint I'd give to that is that well, the gigantic deserts of Iraq, yeah, there's very little fighting in those. But the other areas, the areas where people actually are, are simply a disaster. The whole area. You don't hear a lot about it, because a.) we have a shiny new war to pay attention to, b.) the shiny new war isn't yet killing journalists, and c.) it's literally not safe for journalists to leave the Green Zone, so areas outside of Baghdad hardly get noticed. -Here's a sample of yesterday's events outside of Baghdad: 45 Shi'Ite refugees kidnapped near Ramadi British soldier killed in Basra in a mortar attack -Roadside bomb hit a fuel truck in Kut, 170 km from Baghdad. -A member of the Arab Consultative Assembly, a gathering for Arab tribes and political parties, was gunned down in northern Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said. -A roadside bomb went off near a bus carrying Iraqi soldiers, killing 20 of them and wounding 13 near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad. -Seven people were killed and 15 wounded when a car bomb exploded beside a police patrol near a hospital in the town of Muqdadiya, 90 km northeast of Baghdad, police said. -Two policemen were killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said. -The bodies of three people were found in Baquba, 65 km north of Baghdad, police said. And that's just the stuff western new sources were able to pick up. There was a series of bombings in Fallujah yesterday also, which included the death of a Priest, according to some Arabic sources (the west seems to simply be unable to get there.) QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:30 AM) So does the conquering of the West in this country, though not quite the same. As I alluded to in a thread a few weeks ago. Not exactly the same, but similar. Yes, insurgencies have been put down in the past, but you know what it takes? Genocide. You have to literally kill everyone who might consider fighting you. That's how Saddam put down the Shia rebellion, that's how the U.S. stopped the Native Americans, and so forth. The same thing basically happened in the Philippines, the Americans literally started burning villages, forcing people into concentration camps, etc. But unless that happens, unless Israel is just willing to kill everyone in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza, Hezbollah will continue to survive and strengthen, just as happened when Israel occupied this exact same territory for 18 years. QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:30 AM) These are definitely key. The Palestinian state has alredy been proposed by Israel, so that wouldn't be a problem. The international community would begrudgingly get off of their asses and become involved. The neutral Jerusalem would be a sticking point, though. Even if they could be "convinced" under tremendous pressure to give it up, extremists from Both Sides would try to take it back at some point. Fixed that for you.

QUOTE(Rex Kickass @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:18 AM) There's no guarantee of an overthrow if Fidel dies. I expect little to actually change for a few months at least - and most likely a gradual moderation. If the US wanted to see Fidel's power disappear, we'd end the embargo and make it fair game for US interests to reappear in Cuba. I think the reality is that it's far more likely that we'll wind up ending the embargo and allowing that to happen the moment the Castros themselves are dead and all of the personal issues between the U.S. and that one man can be put aside.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 09:15 AM) Isn't every revolution an insurgency against an established nation? There are plenty of examples throughout history of successful revolutions. One in the 1770's stands out in my memory of history. Um, the American revolution would be yet another example of how you cannot put an insurgency down by force. Every example I gave was an example of a more powerful country trying to put down a guerrilla insurgency with overwhelming force, and failing dramatically, just as happened with the British.

So, several of the Kansas School Board members who last year again attempted to force language into their educational cirriculum saying that life was so complex it had to have been designed had to face voters yesterday. The board is now 6-4 against the ID folks. I think there can be only one response to this ruling. It's time to DANCE LIKE A MONKEY!! (and I'm not sure whether I'm more excited about the news or the fact that it gives me an excuse to link to that video.)

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 08:53 AM) So, Isreal is just supposed to sit there and keep swatting mosquitos? Let me go a bit more in depth on my reply. What you are proposing has been proven to be ineffective. You can speculate on what will or won't work, but it's been proven over the decades that the status quo doesn't work at all. Let Isreal try and kick some major ass. Let them try and kill Hezbollah once and for all or cripple them to the point of ineffectiveness. But if 18 years of Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon didn't do a damn thing to cripple or kill Hezbollah, why exactly should we assume that 6 weeks of military campaigning will? You say it's been proven over and over that the status quo won't work there, but I'm going to counter by saying it's been proven over and over and over and over and over that you can't beat an Insurgency using brute force (Soviets in Afghanistan, U.S. in Vietnam, U.S. in Iraq, France in Vietnam and Algeria, Britain in India, Israel in the West Bank, Israel in Lebanon, Russians in Chechnya). Why exactly should we assume that it will be any different this time?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 08:58 AM) I see no way we don't pick up his option next year. At the end of last year, the only thing that would have stopped us was his legs falling off. His legs could fall off now and his torso would make $6 million.

But Yas, the other side of the coin is this one; if Israel standing down doesn't accomplish anything, what exactly does Israel standing up and fighting accomplish? Thus far, they've caused thousands of Hezbollah rockets to rain down upon them, they've taken Hezbollah and massively improved their standing amongst the entire middle east, to the point that there may well be pro-Hezbollah parades all over that region when the fighting ends (if the governments allow them), they've removed any urge that the Lebanese government might have had to disarm Hezbollah, and turned even the Christian population of that nation into Hez-supporters. They've pushed far into Lebanon, and caused more civilian casualties than Hezbollah casualties. They're not going to destroy Hezbollah...even 18 years of occupying that whole region couldn't do it. They've once again turned Lebanon into a totally failed state, the same kind of mess that gives birth to these sorts of terror movements. They've displaced over half a million people, and cut tens of thousands off from even the most basic supplies, all of which will just feed into the next set of Hezbollah recruits once Israel does pull back. They've raised the tensions throughout the Middle East, strained relations even further with everyone except the U.S, and made U.S. diplomacy look even more pathetic than it did beforehand. So yes, Israel standing down has not accomplished anything in the past, except maintaining the status quo. But what exactly has Israel standing up done except make the situation worse from every angle you look at it?

Remind me never to get excited over anything ever again. Although, this does raise my level of confidence for the things Lance did.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 04:49 AM) Possible replacement for Uribe mayb? Hmmm, the Angels interested in that guy? With Brandon Wood, Kendry Morales, Casey Kotchman, Howie Kendrick, Orlando Cabrera, Dallas McPherson, Maicer Izturis, and probably 1 or 2 more I'm forgetting all in their infield within the next few years or already there? Yeesh, that's just silly of them.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 2, 2006 -> 07:29 AM) My uneducated lineup prediction is, as follows: Pods 7 Iguchi 4 AJP 2 Dye 0 Crede 5 Gload 3 Uribe 6 Mackowiak 9 Anderson 8 Anderson will for some reason be sitting tonight, and Mack will be in CF. Dont' ask me how it's going to happen, it's just going to happen.